1956

align="center" colspan=2 | Years:
1953 1954 1955 - 1956 - 1957 1958 1959

align="center" colspan=2 | Decades:
1920s 1930s 1940s - 1950s - 1960s 1970s 1980s

align="center" | Centuries:
19th century - 20th century - 21st century

1956 was a leap year starting on Sunday. (see link for calendar)

Events

January 1 - End of Anglo-Egyptian Condominium in Sudan.
January 16 - President Gamal Abdal Nasser of Egypt vows to reconquer Palestine
January 26 - 1956 Winter Olympic Games open in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy
January 26 - United Kingdom bans heroin
January 26 - The last Soviet troops leave the military base in Porkkala, Finland

May 9 - First ascent of Manaslu, eighth highest mountain in the world.
May 18 - First ascent of Lhotse (main), fourth highest mountain
May 21 - Nuclear testing: In the Pacific Ocean, Bikini Atoll is nearly obliterated by the first airborne explosion of a hydrogen bomb.

June 10 - 1956 Summer Olympics: Equestrian events open in Stockholm, Sweden.
June 14 - U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs a bill into law that places the words "under God" to the United States' Pledge of Allegiance.
June 18 - Last foreign troops leave Egypt
June 28 - MP Sydney Silverman's bill for abolition of death penalty passes the British House of Commons
June 28 - Labour riots at Poznan, Poland, are crushed with heavy loss of life
June 29 - Marilyn Monroe marries the playwright Arthur Miller

July 8 - First ascent of Gasherbrum II
July 10 - British House of Lords defeats the abolition of death penalty
July 24 - At New York City's Copacabana Club, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis perform their last comedy show together which started on July 25, 1946
July 25 - 45 miles south of Nantucket Island, the Italian ocean liner SS Andrea Doria sinks after colliding with the SS Stockholm in heavy fog, killing 51.
July 26 - Egyptian leader Gamal Nasser nationalizes the Suez Canal sparking international condemnation
July 30 - A Joint Resolution of the U.S. Congress is signed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, authorizing "In God We Trust" as the U.S. national motto.
July 31 - Jim Laker sets extraordinary record at Old Trafford in the fourth Test of taking nineteen wickets in a first class match (the previous best was seventeen).

October 14 - Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, Indian Untouchable leader, converts to Buddhism along with 385,000 followers. See Neo-Buddhism.
October 23 - Hungarian revolution against the communist government. Soviet Union intervenes. Hungary attempts to leave the Warsaw Pact
October 26 - Warsaw Pact troops invade Hungary
October 29 - Suez Crisis begins: Israel invades the Sinai Peninsula and push Egyptian forces back toward the Suez Canal
October 29 - Tangier Protocol signed: The international city Tangier is reintegrated into Morocco
October 31 - Suez Crisis: The United Kingdom and France begin bombing Egypt to force the reopening of the Suez Canal

November 4 - 1956 Hungarian Revolution: Soviet troops invade Hungary to crush a revolt that started on October 23. Thousands are killed, more are wounded and nearly a quarter million leave the country
November 6 - U.S. presidential election, 1956: Republican incumbent Dwight D. Eisenhower is reelected by defeating Democrat challenger Adlai E. Stevenson in a rematch of their contest four years earlier
November 7 - Suez Crisis: The United Nations General Assembly adopts a resolution calling for the United Kingdom, France and Israel to withdraw their troops from Egypt immediately.
November 14 - Fighting ends in Hungary
November 16 - Suez canal blocked
November 22 - Beginning of the Summer Olympic Games in Melbourne, Australia.
November 23 - Suez Crisis causes petrol rationing in Britain

December 2 - Fidel Castro and his followers land on Cuba
December 2 - Pipe bomb explodes at a movie theater in Brooklyn (work of George Metesky)- six people injured
December 5 - Rose Heilbron becomes Britain's first female judge
December 12 : Japan becomes member of the United Nations

April - WNBQ Chicago becomes the first TV station to broadcast all its local programming in color.
April Ampex demonstrates a videotape recorder at the NAB Convention in Chicago. The three networks place orders for the recorders.
April 2 - The first half-hour soap operas, As the World Turns and The Edge of Night, debut on American television. Before, all soap operas only transmitted fifteen-minute episodes each weekday.
August 8 - Final telecast of the DuMont Network.
September 16 - Australia's first television station TCN-9 commences transmission in Sydney
October 1 - Ernie Kovacs becomes the host for NBC's Tonight Show on Mondays and Tuesdays.
October 29 - First use of videotape in network television programming; CBS uses its Ampex VTR to record the evening news, anchored by Douglas Edwards. The tape is then fed to West Coast stations three hours later
October 29 - Chet Huntley and David Brinkley take over anchor duties of the NBC evening newscast, which is renamed The Huntley-Brinkley Report
November - The first use of videotape on a network television entertainment program; Jonathan Winters, uses videotape and superimposing techniques to be able to play two characters in the same skit for his NBC television show
The Price is Right game show premieres
Black-and-white portable TV sets hit the market